Nitrite shocker...am I doing the right thing?

[speede1]

well...some bacteria will live on the filter inserts.
i say put it back in there..and go to the salt treatment for the ick.

Done...just changed 50% water and added 7 teaspoons of salt while doing so... I will add the rest later when I do another 50% water change... temp still at 84 thought it needs to be up and I keep trying to slowly bump it up

Hope the fish don't freak from the salt...they seem ok so far. I didn't lolly gag around much with the salt ...kinda just put it in the jugs and mixed it in as I replaced the water over about four minutes.

It appears that the water changes are beginning to work as the color is taking on a purple tone...but still darker than the 2.0 reading should be and more purple than the 5.0 ???? It is paler anyway than the first three water change tests...so I believe I am on the right track here.


I'll keep this updated...so far I have lost NO FISH! :bday:
Thanks again for the advise everyone

 

[mishi8]

I'm going to continue the 50% water changes... one last night and 2 today so far... the Nitrite reading has went from shocking purple red to deep violet to medium violet as of 10:30 pm...


Here's a question:

I took the spongy charcoal filter out and set it, un-washed ,on the kitchen counter for now...isn't there some good bacteria in it that I need? I have a brand new replacement, but I had already replaced the insert once in this first 30 days....was that a bad idea? and what of the one I have sitting out now? (I took it out to do the Ich fizzy tab stuff) and so there is none at the moment... My guess is that I should abandon the fizzy tab stuff as someone else mentioned and resort to the salt treatment so that I may replace the
"as is" filter and at the same time some bacteria???? I guess i just don't get the filter cartridge and how it relates to the bacterial cycle

And I have no idea where I am in the cycle now or what to do next, to keep what good-bacteria I did have...

I think I might be confusing thing more but I am determined to learn from this and get things back on track so all this help appreciated

Please advise

What kind of filter do you have? In replacing your insert every 30 days, you will be negatively impacting the cycling process.

The purpose of the filter is both mechanical (removing solid waste from the water) and biological (nitrifying bacteria colonize in the filter). Charcoal provides a chemical filter, but is not necessary unless you are removing meds from the water. The filter is an ideal place for bacteria to colonize due to the surface area provided by the the sponges/floss/carbon...whatever you have in your filter, and the exposure to oxygen.

It is important not to regularly replace your filter media, because in doing so you are removing a significant portion of your biofilter (good nitrifying bacteria.) You can simply gently rinse (in treated water or old tank water) your media out to remove solid waste, and then put it back into your filter.

 

[speede1]

That must be what happened when I removed the filter and replaced it with the new one I also was comming into the fourth week of the cyle and saw this huge jump in nitirites...which I am now battleing.


So I DID put the filter back in that has been in there two weeks...It was dried out overnight though...good? bad? Irrelevant?

 

[Pufferpoison]

I am concerned about the kuli loach.... isn't the salt bad for him, and just how much salt is best/gal? The jungle tab won't work? It seemed to clear it up the last time :huh:

i'm surprised nobody picked up on this, but NO your medicine didn't work last time, that's why you still have ich in your tank. drop the meds and go with salt. you think salt is bad for your loach, let the malachine green in there for a while and you will have a heaven bound loach!!!!!!!!

if your filter dried out overnight, all the benificial bacteria died.

 

[speede1]

i'm surprised nobody picked up on this, but NO your medicine didn't work last time, that's why you still have ich in your tank. drop the meds and go with salt. you think salt is bad for your loach, let the malachine green in there for a while and you will have a heaven bound loach!!!!!!!!

if your filter dried out overnight, all the benificial bacteria died.

yeah I read about the life cycle of Ich and realize the 2 tabs DID knock off the ich on the fish but since I didn't treat for long enough, the pathogen was able to survive other palces in the tank and re infect my fish. :rant:

The salt is in and I believe I need to have the temp at a MINIMUM of 86....right?

 

[mishi8]

yeah I read about the life cycle of Ich and realize the 2 tabs DID knock off the ich on the fish but since I didn't treat for long enough, the pathogen was able to survive other palces in the tank and re infect my fish. :rant:

The salt is in and I believe I need to have the temp at a MINIMUM of 86....right?

86 is high enough to kill the ich. You don't want to go higher than that. Keep an eye on how your fish are doing at that temp. Since higher temps lead to lower oxygen levels in water, you may want to either add an airstone to increase oxygen exchange, or lower your water level a bit to creat more splash from your filter (again, increasing the oxygen exchange.) You can have the temperature lower than 84 (I kept my temp at 84 when treating ich,) which will at least accelerate the life cycle, and enough salt will kill the ich.

 

[speede1]

86 is high enough to kill the ich. You don't want to go higher than that. Keep an eye on how your fish are doing at that temp. Since higher temps lead to lower oxygen levels in water, you may want to either add an airstone to increase oxygen exchange, or lower your water level a bit to creat more splash from your filter (again, increasing the oxygen exchange.) You can have the temperature lower than 84 (I kept my temp at 84 when treating ich,) which will at least accelerate the life cycle, and enough salt will kill the ich.

I will keep it at 84-86 degrees no more...thanks

BTW: MY NITRITE LEVEL TONIGHT IS 0.5 :thm:

soon it should be down to .25 or less...

 

[speede1]

I will keep it at 84-86 degrees no more...thanks

BTW: MY NITRITE LEVEL TONIGHT IS 0.5 :thm:

soon it should be down to .25 or less...

ok it's now over two days later since my last post and I have still been doing 40-50% water changes 1-2 a day. It seems my nitirites are just stuck at 0.5. :huh:

Should I just keep doing 1-2 40-50% changes a day to keep it at .5 or is it reasonable to expect my water changes to bring it down to .25? I mean it has been not quite 5 weeks into setting up the new tank and so I think I'm still cycling. Am I in the safe range for now until the bacterial load is up and it falls or do I need to try to get it to .25 with more changes.....??

 

[speede1]

UPDATE:

Ok so I took some water into my local non LFS store where I feel they have been the most straight forward and honest with me and they tested mywater


I am at .25 in nitrites! :dance: I have some nitrates built up...second color form the bottom and a good level she said considering where nitrites (.25) ammonia (one color up from lowest) and ph (6.8-7.0) were....almost balanced. Says I can skip a day of water change.... give the fishies a break and see where the nitrites go. If they drop then I need to do a 50% water change as the nitrates will have gotten a little high as a result and that I will be near the end of the cycle!

If the nitrites bump up ...well keep on changing! Says I am good to do what I have to to keep them at .25 until they drop one day...soon.

Sound right?


Additionally, I have been treating a very minimal ich outbreak on a platty since Tuesday with salt and a temp of 84-86 and the spot remains...is that normal to still have the spot....i had a small spot on a guppy that went away....but the platty still has one spot on her tail (she never had much) and it has been about 5 days now? Is salt just slow to work?

 

[speede1]

GREAT NEWS! MY NITRITES ARE AT ZERO THIS MORNING!! :thm: :laugh:
i did one more 50% water change as I was told that the nitrates will have gott a bit higher as a result of the nitrites finally zeroing out...


I will keep a finger crossed, but I think my tank is finally cycled! :cool2: